Robert Buckland

A call for evidence on developing a tourist accommodation registration scheme in England was held between June and September 2022, and received almost 4,000 responses. Respondents were asked, amongst other questions, to provide insights or evidence on the impact of schemes or approaches that are already in place elsewhere in the world.

The findings of the call for evidence have indicated that there is a case for light-touch regulation of the sector, and therefore the Government is introducing a registration scheme for short-term lets through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. The exact details of how the scheme will operate will be explored through a public consultation which will be published shortly. Where appropriate, schemes that have already been implemented in other countries such as in the Netherlands may be considered as we develop the details of how the scheme in England will be designed.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Progress has been made on negotiating a free trade agreement with India, closing the majority of chapters and making headway on the outstanding issues. Only the most complex issues remain open, with talks focused on goods, services, and investment.

The Government remains focused on securing a deal in the best interests of the British people and economy. It has always been about the deal and not the date.

Officials are expected to continue talks during India's pre-election period.

The UK’s Economic Partnership Agreements with southern African countries and the UK Developing Countries Trading Scheme enable trade and promote development. UK Export Finance supports the region with billions of pounds of finance or insurance cover available for projects involving UK suppliers. The Prime Minister has announced that he will host the second UK-African Investment Summit in 2024, which will help UK businesses secure sustainable investment into the region and maintain the UK’s position as the leading investor in Africa.

The Government’s plans for sustainable investment in developing economies is set out in the International Development Strategy.

The Developing Countries Trading Scheme supports the UK renewables industry by allowing duty-free imports on everything but arms from 33 Least Developed Countries in Africa.

In addition, the UK Global Tariff allows duty-free imports of raw materials such as cobalt, nickel and graphite from all countries, including those in Africa.

We are supporting partnerships between UK and African firms in renewables. Through the Africa Energy Forum in June, we brought together UK investors and exporters and African governments in renewables and the 2024 UK Africa Investment Summit will further develop commercial partnerships including in renewables.

The application portal, (and accompanying contact centre helpline for those without online access), for the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS AF) will open for all eligible households without a relationship to a domestic electricity supplier in England, Scotland, and Wales by 27 February. The EBSS AF for Northern Ireland is also due to launch in February, with details to be released in due course.

In October 2023 the Counter Disinformation Unit became the National Security and Online Information Team (the NSOIT). The name more accurately reflects the team’s revised remit and function, which is to tackle the greatest national security risks facing the UK from mis and disinformation, specifically looking at threats posed by foreign states, risks to elections and from the use of AI and deepfakes. This revised remit is kept under regular review.

NSOIT’s remit does not include working with individual platforms to tackle mis or disinformation from certain individuals or groups. In specific circumstances, the NSOIT may share online material with platforms where it is in line with ministerial steers, is on an issue within the team’s remit, and where the content appears to be in breach of the platform’s terms of service. Social media platforms decide whether or not content is a breach of their terms of service and, if so, what action to take.

It is a key priority of this government to preserve the integrity of our democratic processes and safeguard the public from interference by malign state and non-state actors, including through AI-enabled threats and manipulated media.

The Online Safety Act will tackle illegal disinformation and misinformation including state-sponsored disinformation via the Foreign Interference Offence, including deepfakes and other forms of manipulated media. This means that companies will have a legal duty to take preventative action to identify and minimise their users’ exposure to state-linked interference with UK society. Such content will need to be swiftly removed, requiring tangible action against state-backed attempts to undermine our democratic, political and legal processes.

In addition to our regulatory approach, the DSIT National Security Online Information Team (NSOIT) analyses attempts by foreign states to artificially manipulate the online information environment. The NSOIT works with social media platforms to support and encourage them to put in place policies that are fit for purpose, consistently enforced, and which respect freedom of expression.

Ministers and officials from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology meet regularly with counterparts from other countries to share our experience and expertise and to develop common approaches to online safety. We work closely with the Government of Australia and recently signed a memorandum of understanding setting out our intention to promote regulatory coordination and jointly deliver online safety and security policy to support our citizens.

The UK government has already delivered world-leading legislation via the Online Safety Act, which captures misinformation and disinformation where it constitutes illegal content or content which is harmful to children, and which forces the largest platforms to remove misinformation and disinformation prohibited under their Terms of Service.

The UK’s AI market is valued at over $21 billion and is estimated to grow to over 1 trillion by 2035. Recently we have seen the largest investment ($1 billion) into a UK AI start-up (Wayve), with several AI companies opening their European headquarters here. Google and Microsoft have recently announced plans to invest $4.2 billion in the UK, demonstrating confidence in the UK’s approach to AI. To encourage further investment, we host the annual Global Investment Summit, we have tax incentives available for AI companies, and we are delivering £1.5bn of investment into compute, all of which will strengthen our position as an attractive place to invest.

The government’s November 2023 ‘Response to the Independent Review of the RDI Organisational Landscape’ announced the creation of a new Metascience Unit, jointly run across the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), with an initial funding commitment of £10m. The unit will deliver a competitive grants programme and will also conduct experiments to test and robustly evaluate the effectiveness of changes in the funding processes delivered by UKRI.

This programme of work is intended to generate evidence on more effective ways of funding and supporting scientific research.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

The Government consulted on our proposed approach to a new pro-competition regime, overseen by the Digital Markets Unit, last year. The consultation closed in October, and we are carefully considering the responses. We will set out the final design of the regime in our response shortly, and will introduce legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.

The Government consulted on our proposed approach to a new pro-competition regime, overseen by the Digital Markets Unit, last year. The consultation closed in October, and we are carefully considering the responses. We will set out the final design of the regime in our response shortly, and will introduce legislation as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Newspapers play an invaluable role in the fabric of our society and the government is committed to considering all possible options in the interest of supporting the sustainability of the press. As society continues to move online, the news publishing sector is facing significant challenges in transitioning to sustainable digital business models. As part of this, we are aware of concerns about the effect of the power and position of some online platforms when dealing with news publishers, as identified by the Cairncross Review.

The government set out its proposals for a new pro-competition regime for digital markets in a public consultation in July 2021. The regime will drive a more vibrant and innovative economy across the UK. In line with codes proposed in the Cairncross Review, the regime’s conduct requirements will improve competition and transparency and so make an important contribution to the sustainability of the press. We have also sought advice from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Ofcom on how the regime would govern the relationship between platforms and content producers including news publishers. No final decisions have been made.

A consultation response will be published in due course and we will legislate to put the regime on a statutory footing as soon as parliamentary time allows.

I refer my right hon. Friend, the Member for South Swindon, to the answer of 25 March 2024 to Question 18946.

Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) frequently require access to additional support from a broad specialist workforce across education, health and care. To support this, the department has completed the following:

• Since May 2022, the department has supported 135,000 professionals to access autism awareness training developed by the Autism Education Trust through the £12 million Universal services training programme.
• In January 2024, the department announced a new initial teacher training and early career framework that includes new and updated content on SEND to ensure teachers have the skills and confidence to support all children.

• The department is providing free training to up to 7,000 early years Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) to boost understanding of SEND in early years, and increase early identification and collaborative working with parents, carers, and other professionals. As of December 2023, 5,200 people had already registered for their training.
• The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from September 2024. This builds on the £10 million currently being invested in the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.

• In August 2023, the department confirmed that a new National Professional Qualification for SENCOs will replace the existing National Award for Special Educational Needs Coordinators (NASENCO) qualification from Autumn 2024. This will ensure SENCOs receive consistent high quality, evidence-based training. The department does not hold data regarding the number of professionals who have undertaken the NASENCO qualification since March 2023.

The department is working with local authorities and suppliers to deliver a digital project to digitise the Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan process for England. The department started this project in summer 2023 to understand what role digitisation should play in the EHC plan process, and the potential longer-term benefits of digital solutions.

The department launched a second project phase in October 2023. This helped the department to understand the benefits, barriers, and limitations of the digitisation of the EHC plan process. This phase resulted in recommendations.

The department launched a third project phase in February 2024 to test the recommendations, which are due to be shared with local authorities and the wider sector this month.

Higher education (HE) providers are autonomous and therefore responsible for ensuring they have adequate governance and risk management procedures in place. The department expects the HE sector to be alert to risks when collaborating with any international partners.

The government’s International Education Strategy makes clear that the internationalisation of the HE sector cannot come at any cost. A key element of that strategy is diversification. Universities must ensure they have appropriate processes in place to manage risks associated with dependence on a single source of funding, whether that is from a single organisation or a single country.

The Office for Students (OfS), the regulator of HE in England, monitors the risk of over-reliance on overseas income at a sector level. The role of the OfS is not to direct how HE providers manage themselves or to limit their recruitment from a particular country of origin, but to ensure they understand where there is greater reliance and how any risks are being managed, and to take action to protect students from the consequences of unmanaged financial risk, if necessary.

The Integrated Review Refresh, which this government published in March 2023, sets out in clear terms the UK’s policy towards engagement with China and Chinese entities.

Higher education (HE) providers are autonomous institutions and are responsible for ensuring they have adequate governance, risk management procedures and policies in place, including on the acceptance of donations. HE providers will also have their own due diligence procedures which should consider reputational, ethical and security risks.

The department expects the HE sector to be alert to risks when collaborating with any international partners. Guidance published by Universities UK advises HE providers how to engage in international collaborations safely and securely. This guidance also includes a recommendation that due diligence should be conducted on all international partnerships and it is available here: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/publications/managing-risks-internationalisation.

The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 will ensure that HE providers in England have the tools they need to deal with interference with, and threats to, freedom of speech and academic freedom wherever they originate. The Act will enable the Office for Students to monitor the overseas funding of registered HE providers and their constituent institutions and student’s unions, and to take appropriate action. Provisions in the Act dealing with overseas funding are expected to come into force from 1 September 2025.

We receive regular reports from the British Antarctic Territory on the status of suspected avian influenza cases.

We provide support to the region and other British Overseas Territories proactively, to rapidly test for, track and monitor progression of disease spread and impact in Southern Oceans/Antarctica. This includes working with others to define risk.

National Antarctic programmes have protocols in place to manage and mitigate the spread of outbreaks and best practice on reporting and biosecurity standards is also shared through International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) and the Commission for the Conservation Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

The Government supports a thriving, productive and efficient farming sector that prevents waste occurring in the first place. For instance, we are supporting investment in productivity-boosting equipment, technology and infrastructure through the Farming Investment Fund. This provides grants to farmers, foresters, and growers (including contractors to these sectors) that will help their businesses to prosper, while improving their productivity and enhancing the environment.

We acknowledge that more can be done to reduce food waste in the primary production stage. The ‘fair dealings’ powers contained in the Agriculture Act 2020 can be used to prevent these kinds of unfair trading practices where they occur, as we are aware that unreasonably late cancellations or specification changes can sometimes lead to produce being unharvested. Last year we launched two new supply chain fairness reviews, looking into the egg and fresh produce supply chains, and building on what we have already got underway to improve transparency and contracts in the pork and dairy markets. The review into the egg supply chain closed on 22 December, and the review of the fresh produce supply chain will close on 22 February. We will publish a summary of responses within 12 weeks of each consultation closing.

The Government works closely with businesses through our delivery partner the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to overcome any barriers to redistribution. This includes the development of guidance and best practice through a sector wide working group, and support for the Target Measure Act approach to understanding and acting on food waste in supply chains, including the redistribution of any surplus should it arise and is supported by the National Farmers Union. Where the NFU stands on food waste – NFUonline

Since 2018, Defra funding of nearly £13 million has supported both large and small redistribution organisations across the country to increase their capability and capacity.

The total amount of food redistributed in the UK in 2022 was over 170,000 tonnes and a value of around £590 million, an increase of 133% since 2019.

There are no plans for DWP to make this specific assessment. Whilst we recognise the importance of early identification of autism, a diagnosis is not required to be eligible for reasonable adjustments and the provision of workplace support. These are made, in line with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, based on functional need.

We are, as you know, encouraging employers to adopt more neuro-inclusive working practices, which benefit neurodiverse employees irrespective of whether they have a diagnosis.

The SoS and I were delighted to see the launch of your excellent Review into Autism Employment on the 28^{th of} February, which has created a focus for action to improve the recruitment and retention of autistic people. It has identified workplace barriers, and the working practices and initiatives that can reduce them, to create a more inclusive working environment for autistic employees and autistic jobseekers.

We now look towards supporting how the 19 recommendations in the report can be implemented to encourage a more neuro-inclusive culture in the workplace.

This is supported by Disability Confident, our scheme to increase employers’ understanding of how to recruit, retain and support disabled employees and the Support with Employee Health and Disability online service which guides employers through health and disability scenarios at work, including making reasonable adjustments.

The information requested about Access to Work claims for employment coaches for supported interns is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

However, Access to Work statistics include how many applications result in provision being approved from 2007/08 to 2022/23. Please see Table 3 of the Access to Work statistics.

The latest Access to Work statistics can be found here.

The information requested about Access to Work payment journey times for the cost of employment coaches for supported interns in the latest period is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

However, the Access to Work statistics includes number of people who received a payment for any Access to Work provision from 2007/08 to 2022/23. Please see Table 6 of the Access to Work statistics.

The latest Access to Work statistics can be found here.

We know that neurodivergent people bring many positive benefits to businesses and therefore understand the importance of encouraging employers to adopt more neuro-inclusive working practices.

The Secretary of State and Tom Pursglove (former Minister for Disabled People) are very grateful for the work you have been leading on the Review into Autism Employment, which has been exploring working practices or initiatives which can reduce stigma and create a more inclusive working environment for autistic and neurodiverse employees in the public, private and voluntary sectors. We look forward to the publication of the report early in 2024, and then to working with you, with employers, and with stakeholders to implement the recommendations from the report and encourage a more neuro-inclusive culture in the workplace.

We are also supporting employers via Disability Confident to increase their understanding of how to recruit, retain and support disabled employees and those with long term health conditions. The scheme provides employers with the skills and knowledge to remove barriers that might be preventing disabled people, neurodivergent people and those with long term health conditions from accessing employment and allows them opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations.

We know that neurodivergent people bring many positive benefits to businesses and therefore understand the importance of encouraging employers to adopt more neuro-inclusive working practices.

The Secretary of State and Tom Pursglove (former Minister for Disabled People) are very grateful for the work you have been leading on the Review into Autism Employment, which has been exploring working practices or initiatives which can reduce stigma and create a more inclusive working environment for autistic and neurodiverse employees in the public, private and voluntary sectors. We look forward to the publication of the report early in 2024, and then to working with you, with employers, and with stakeholders to implement the recommendations from the report and encourage a more neuro-inclusive culture in the workplace.

We are also supporting employers via Disability Confident to increase their understanding of how to recruit, retain and support disabled employees and those with long term health conditions. The scheme provides employers with the skills and knowledge to remove barriers that might be preventing disabled people, neurodivergent people and those with long term health conditions from accessing employment and allows them opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations.

Data from the adult social care short and long-term collection shows that, as of 31 March 2023, 258,940 people aged 18 to 64 years old were receiving long-term support commissioned via, although not necessarily funded by, their local authority. The Department does not hold data centrally on working age adults who are self-funded, or on integrated care board funded care for working age adults.

A total of 611,590 adults aged between 18 and 64 years old made requests for social care support in 2022/23. Of these, 216,135, or 35.3%, did not receive support from their local authority. Local authorities are responsible for assessing individuals’ care and support needs and, where eligible, for meeting those needs. Where a person is assessed as having eligible care and support needs, the local authority should then carry out a financial assessment to determine what they can afford to contribute towards the cost of meeting their care need. Where individuals do not meet the eligibility threshold, they can get support from their local authorities in making their own arrangements for care services, as set out in the Care Act 2014.

The introduction of regulation by the General Medical Council (GMC) will provide a standardised framework of governance and assurance for the clinical practice and professional conduct of Anaesthesia Associates (AAs) and Physician Associates (PAs), and make it easier for employers, patients, and the public to understand the relationship between these roles and that of doctors.

Whilst statutory regulation is an important part of ensuring patient safety, it is also achieved through robust clinical governance processes within healthcare organisations, which are required to have systems of oversight and supervision for their staff.

NHS England is working with the relevant professional colleges and regulators to ensure the use of associate roles is expanded safely and effectively, and that they are appropriately supported, supervised, and integrated into multidisciplinary teams. NHS England has written to trusts to remind them of their responsibilities in this area, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/ensuring-safe-and-effective-integration-of-physician-associates-into-departmental-multidisciplinary-teams-through-good-practice/

We are clear that AAs and PAs are not, and should never be, referred to as medical practitioners, doctors, or consultants. It is the responsibility of professionals and their employers to ensure professional titles are used appropriately. As set out in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidelines, all healthcare professionals directly involved in a patient's care should introduce themselves and explain their role to the patient. The GMC has published interim standards for AAs and PAs in advance of regulation, which make it clear that professionals should always introduce their role to patients and set out their responsibilities in the team.

Hospital radio can provide National Health Service patients and visitors with a positive experience at a time when they are feeling vulnerable. NHS trusts work locally with volunteers and organisations to provide this service. Decisions about supporting the service are made most appropriately at a local level.

NHS England published updated policy and guidance on Dynamic Support Registers (DSRs) and Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews (C(E)TRs) on 25 January 2023, for implementation from 1 May 2023. The purpose of the updated policy and guidance is to help ensure that people with a learning disability and autistic people get the right support, to stay well in their communities.

NHS England produced the updated policy and guidance following a process of reviewing the learning since the inception of DSRs and C(E)TRs, including consultation and engagement with people with lived experience. This process included drawing on the findings of the Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board’s review of the deaths of Joanna, Jon, and Ben at Cawston Park in Norfolk, and the subsequent safe and wellbeing reviews for all people with a learning disability and autistic people in mental health hospitals.